FIRST REGULAR SESSION
94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVES KRATKY (Sponsor), DEEKEN, POLLOCK, RICHARD, WASSON, NIEVES, SCHOEMEHL, MEINERS, SALVA, CHAPPELLE-NADAL, VILLA, HAYWOOD, DONNELLY, WOOD, MAY, HUBBARD, BURNETT, GUEST, LIESE, LOWE (44) AND YAEGER (Co-sponsors).
Read 1st time February 20, 2007 and copies ordered printed.
D. ADAM CRUMBLISS, Chief Clerk
AN ACT
To repeal sections 115.277 and 115.284, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof two new sections relating to absentee ballots.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Sections 115.277 and 115.284, RSMo, are repealed and two new sections enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as sections 115.277 and 115.284, to read as follows:
115.277. 1. Except as provided in subsections 3, 4 and 5 of this section, any registered voter of this state may vote by absentee ballot for all candidates and issues for which such voter would be eligible to vote at the polling place if such voter expects to be prevented from going to the polls to vote on election day due to:
(1) Absence on election day from the jurisdiction of the election authority in which such voter is registered to vote;
(2) Incapacity or confinement due to illness or physical disability, including a person who is primarily responsible for the physical care of a person who is incapacitated or confined due to illness or disability;
(3) Religious belief or practice;
(4) Employment as an election authority, as a member of an election authority, or by an election authority at a location other than such voter's polling place;
(5) Incarceration, provided all qualifications for voting are retained.
2. Any person in federal service, as defined in section 115.275, who is eligible to register and vote in this state but is not registered may vote only in the election of presidential and vice presidential electors, United States senator and representative in Congress even though the person is not registered. Each person in federal service may vote by absentee ballot or, upon submitting an affidavit that the person is qualified to vote in the election, may vote at the person's polling place.
3. Any interstate former resident, as defined in section 115.275, may vote by absentee ballot for presidential and vice presidential electors.
4. Any intrastate new resident, as defined in section 115.275, may vote by absentee ballot at the election for presidential and vice presidential electors, United States senator, representative in Congress, statewide elected officials and statewide questions, propositions and amendments from such resident's new jurisdiction of residence after registering to vote in such resident's new jurisdiction of residence.
5. Any new resident, as defined in section 115.275, may vote by absentee ballot for presidential and vice presidential electors after registering to vote in such resident's new jurisdiction of residence.
6. Any registered voter of this state who is seventy years of age or older may vote by absentee ballot for all candidates and issues for which such voter would be eligible to vote at the voter's polling place.
115.284. 1. There is hereby established an absentee voting process to assist persons with permanent disabilities or who are seventy years of age or older in the exercise of their voting rights.
2. The local election authority shall [send] provide an application to participate in the absentee voting process set out in this section to any registered voter residing within the election authority's jurisdiction [upon] with any request for an absentee ballot.
3. Upon receipt of a properly completed application, the election authority shall enter the voter's name on a list of voters qualified to participate as absentee voters pursuant to this section.
4. The application to participate in the absentee voting process shall be in substantially the following form:
State of .....................................
County (City) of .............................
I,..................................... (print applicant's name), declare that I am a resident and registered voter of ............................... County, Missouri, and am permanently disabled or am seventy years of age or older. I hereby request that my name be placed on the election authority's list of voters qualified to participate as absentee voters pursuant to section 115.284, and that I be delivered an absentee ballot application for each election in which I am eligible to vote.
.........................
Signature of Voter
.........................
.........................
Voter's Address
5. Not earlier than ten weeks before an election but prior to the fourth Tuesday prior to an election, the election authority shall deliver to each voter qualified to participate as absentee voters pursuant to this section an absentee ballot application if the voter is eligible to vote in that election. If the voter returns the absentee request application to the election authority not later than 5:00 p.m. on the Wednesday before an election and has retained the necessary qualifications to vote, the election authority shall provide the voter with an absentee ballot pursuant to this chapter.
6. The election authority shall remove from the list of voters qualified to participate as absentee voters pursuant to this section any voter who:
(1) Asks to be removed from the list;
(2) Dies;
(3) Becomes disqualified from voting pursuant to this chapter; or
(4) No longer resides at the address of his or her voter registration.
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